Sunday 12 February 2006 19.40 EST
First published on Sunday 12 February 2006 19.40 EST

It was hard not to smile last week when Associated Newspapers launched the Irish Daily Mail. Thirteen years ago the Sunday Times marked the arrival of its Irish edition by serialising the story of Annie Murphy, the American woman who had given birth to Bishop Eamonn Casey's lovechild. Last Monday it was the Irish Daily Mail's turn, as it splashed on Murphy's reconciliation with Casey on the day he returned to Ireland. Sinning bishops remain compelling news, despite the changes that have seen the Catholic church lose its favoured place in Irish society.

The Mail's promotional approach has been typically aggressive. Backed by intensive TV advertising and a price war - the Irish Daily Mail was free on Monday and then priced at 30 cents from Tuesday, compared to €1 for the Sun and Mirror, €1.30 for the Star and €1.70 for the Irish Times and Irish Independent - sales have already exceeded expectations. Rival newspaper groups concede that it sold at least 55,000 copies on Tuesday and that sales have risen by 5,000 copies a day since then. Saturday's paper, with a print run of 140,000, is estimated to have sold almost 100,000 copies at the slightly higher cover price of 35 cents, enough to give it an average sale for the first week of more than 70,000 - within touching distance of the Irish Mirror's 76,000 and a seven fold increase on its pre-launch level of 10,000.

The Mail has also rolled out some trusted favourites: tokens for a Doulton dinner service and a pair of earrings. Its advertising is unashamedly aimed at Irish women, who are encouraged to "get another Mail" in their lives. Family values, too, are pushed hard and the Mail recruited David Quinn, former editor of the Irish Catholic and a well-respected social commentator, to give edge to its editorial.

Can it prosper? Paul Dacre, the Mail's editor, clearly believes there is a middle Ireland that will respond to the paper's mix of female-friendly features, showbiz and conservative values, but for the moment the Irish edition lacks the political confidence that characterises the UK version. Dacre has entrusted the Irish launch to Ted Verity, his editor-in-chief in Ireland, and has dispatched Martin Clarke, the former Scotsman editor and newsroom hardman, to add his noise to the mix. Clarke, characteristically, was instrumental in the departure of the paper's night editor the weekend before launch.

The launch of the Irish edition represents yet another level in the battle between Associated and Tony O'Reilly's Independent Newspapers, Ireland's dominant newspaper group, which includes the Irish Independent, Sunday Independent (for which I am due to start writing later this year), Sunday World, Irish Star, Evening Herald, Herald AM and Sunday Tribune, and which last year made operating profits of more than €80m. Associated wants a piece of that pie.

Five years ago, it acquired the ailing Ireland on Sunday and has since invested €65m doubling its circulation to 140,000, modelling it on the Mail on Sunday and targeting it at O'Reilly's Sunday Independent. Last year it launched Metro, a free newspaper for Dublin, a move that threatened O'Reilly's Evening Herald and which prompted Independent to launch its own free newspaper, Herald AM.

The Irish Daily Mail now pitches Associated directly against the Irish Independent, Ireland's biggest selling daily paper, and the Irish Star, an upmarket version of the UK tabloid, which is 50% owned by O'Reilly.

On the evidence of the first week, the Irish Mail poses an immediate threat to the tabloids - the Sun, Mirror and particularly the Star - and may, too, attract new readers. But if it is to prise readers away from the Irish Independent and Irish Times it will need an injection of political verve.

Clarke, who edited Ireland on Sunday during its growth spurt, demonstrated his ability to ride on the crest of a promotional wave but failed to build a team of journalists who could carry the paper forward, and never managed to give the paper a political voice. Once the promotion was turned off, the circulation slipped. The Irish Daily Mail needs to learn from Ireland on Sunday's mistakes: it needs to find an Irish voice and in a small market with limited talent, it needs executives who understand how to manage people, not just intimidate them, because there are no ready replacements.

The first week has been an undoubted sales success, but it will take more than wayward bishops to knock a serious dent in O'Reilly's daily flagship. The Mail has a long way to travel before it can tackle Irish society and politics with the confidence that Dacre exudes on his home patch.

· Alan Ruddock was the launch editor of the Sunday Times in Ireland and is now a columnist for that paper